70 In addition to the work done by Bass (1985, 1990) and Bass and Avolio (1994), other writers have contributed to the understanding of transformational leadership. The research of Bennis and Nanus (1985) and the works of Kouzes and Posner (1987, 2002) use similar research methods to those of Bass and other earlier writers. They identified a number of middle and senior management leaders and conducted
interviews with them using open-ended, semi-structured questionnaires, on which they based their models of leadership (Northouse, 2007, p.186). Their findings also show that transformational leaders have a vision for their organisations (Bennis & Nanus, 1985, p. 89), are able to set new directions for their organisations and create trust in the organisation (Bennis & Nanus, 1985, p. 48). They are aware of their own competence and capabilities and this positive self-regard inspires the followers and raises their confidence levels as well (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). Similarly Kouzes and Posner (2002) found that transformational leaders act as role models and set an example for others to follow, have a vision for their organisations, are willing to change the status quo and experiment with new ideas, practise collaborative leadership and teamwork in their organisation and they encourage the staff members in their organisations by rewarding their accomplishments (Kouzes & Posner, 2002).
Therefore, many of these researchers have found similarities among leaders of organisations and what constitutes transformational leadership in business
organisations. Transformational leadership has also been researched in the educational context, particularly among principals in schools. Some of the founding work on transformational leadership in schools is by Leithwood, Jantzi and Steinbach (1999).
71 The second dimension is establishing school goals, in which the leaders help members of the school community to work on short term goals that lead to the fulfilment of the common vision for the school. Establishing school goals is closely related to building a vision but, while vision-building for the organisation is a long term initiative, goals that are developed through consensus by staff members are to be accomplished in the short term. Examples of school practices that aim at goal-setting as typically set by the school principal are: providing staff members with opportunities to establish school goals and to regularly review these; expecting teams of teachers (departments) and individuals to engage in setting goals; and to review the progress made towards achieving the goals; and referring to and using the school‟s goals when making decisions about the school (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 65).
Demonstrating high-performance expectations is the third dimension, in which leaders have high expectations for innovative, professional and hard work from staff that are committed to the welfare of students. Individuals receive desired rewards for their efforts and for creating a productive school culture. Examples of transformational leadership practices that are identified with high-performance expectations are:
expecting the staff to be innovative, hard-working and professional, demonstrating a strong commitment to the welfare of the students and not accepting poor performance from anyone (Leithwood, 1999, p. 69).
The fourth dimension, individualised support, involves equitable, supportive treatment for colleagues, developed by getting to know colleagues personally. Individual
consideration is further shown through recognition for good work and effort.
Leithwood et al. (1999, 72-73) identified 20 leadership practices related to individualised support and these are associated with the following facets of individualised support: “equitable, humane and considerate treatment of one‟s colleagues”; “support for the personal, professional development of staff”;
development of “close knowledge” of individual colleagues; “recognition of good work and effort” and “approaches to change”. Examples of the practices associated with individualised support are: treating all colleagues equally, being approachable and accessible and protecting teachers from anything that may disturb their classroom work (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 72).
72 Intellectual stimulation is the fifth dimension in which individuals are challenged through the introduction of new ideas, encouraged to reflect on their work and to be innovative and to develop professionally. Leithwood et al. (1999, p. 76) identified four basic strategies for leaders to intellectually stimulate staff members. These are: “to change those school norms that might constrain the thinking of staff”; “to challenge the status quo”; to encourage “new initiatives” and for school leaders “to bring their colleagues into contact with new ideas”. Examples of practices that are aligned to intellectual stimulation are: insisting on careful thought before carrying out any task, stimulating the staff members to reflect and think about what they are doing for the students, encouraging staff members to use new practices without pressurising them, searching for new ideas by visiting other schools, attending conferences and cascading the new ideas to the other staff members (Leithwood et al., 1999, pp. 76-77).
Modelling best practices and important organisational values, in which the leader sets the example for individuals to follow, is the sixth dimension. The leader is seen as a role model and leads by doing. The transformational leader is committed to the school organisation, to the professional growth of the teachers, to enhancing the quality of the group and individual problem-solving processes, to reinforce key values such as respect for others, integrity and trust in the colleagues‟ judgements (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 80). Examples of practices associated with modelling are: displaying energy and commitment for work, asking colleagues for a feedback about their work and showing that problems can be solved from multiple perspectives (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 80).
The seventh dimension, developing structures to foster participation in school decisions, involves the leader in providing opportunities for power to be distributed throughout the organisation. Leaders structure the environment to involve teachers and others in shared decision-making about issues that directly affect their work. The following are examples of practices to create and maintain shared decision-making structures in schools: leadership is distributed through the school and the power associated with leadership does not lie only with the principal of the school, allowing staff members to be involved in decision making and taking staff into account when making decisions concerning the school.
73 Creating a productive school culture is the eighth transformational leadership
dimension that refers to behaviours of a transformational leader that develop “school norms, beliefs, values and assumptions that are student-centred and support continuing professional growth by teachers” (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 83). Transformational leaders are also concerned with the development of a positive school culture as part of building a strong, positive school community. Examples of practices related to
culture-building are: planning a school vision that relates to collaborative work and the care and respect of students, sharing power and responsibility with other staff members even if they are not in formal leadership roles and providing opportunities and resources for collaborative work among staff members (Leithwood et al., 1999, p.
84).
Leithwood et al. (1999) categorise the eight leadership dimensions into setting directions, developing people and redesigning the organisation. The first category is setting directions which include the following transformational leadership practices or functions: 1) building a shared vision; 2) developing consensus about goals; and 3) creating high performance expectations (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 55). The second category is developing people and involves: 1) individualised support; 2) intellectual stimulation; and 3) modelling. The third leadership category concerns redesigning the organisation and the leadership practices of this category are 1) culture; 2) structure;
3) policy; and 4) community relationships. I will use the three categories of setting directions, developing people and redesigning the organisation to align the capabilities with the transformational practices. To this list of categories I will include developing knowledge and skills as a category.
Apart from direction-setting being an integral attribute of leadership, the influence of the leader is also important. Leithwood et al. (1999, p. 6) state that “who exerts influence, the nature of the influence, the purpose for the exercise of influence and its outcomes” have to be considered in order to understand the type of leadership
followed by a leader. Transformational leadership influence is exercised through motivation which is able to raise the members‟ aspirations for work and inspire higher levels of commitment to the organisation. Leithwood et al. (1999, p. 25) have argued that the influence of transformational leadership moves schools beyond first-order, surface changes to second-order, deeper transformations that alter the “core
technologies” of schooling, such as the pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment.
74 Leithwood et al. (1999, p. 25) state that first-order changes involve models of learning and forms of instruction that are designed to teach for understanding and to improve student learning. The second-order changes are about school restructuring which requires leadership that “has shared vision; creating productive work cultures;
distributing leadership to others; and the like” (Leithwood et al., 1999).
Transformational leadership in schools achieves these ends through the pursuit of common goals, empowerment of people in the organisation, development and maintenance of a collaborative culture, promoting processes of teacher development and engaging people in collaborative problem-solving strategies (Fink, 2005). Bush (2003) states that the principal or head of the school facilitates the participative and collaborative culture within the school and provides the staff with leadership opportunities. Therefore leadership practices are dependent on the organisational contexts. In order for women middle managers to function as transformational leaders the school context must enable democratic, transformational and collaborative
leadership practices.
Although the writers mentioned in this section consider the principal as the primary leader of the school and appreciate that being a transformational leader is not exclusively a leadership style of a principal, they agree that leadership can be practised by all those in leadership positions, either informal or formal, and not necessarily the head of an organisation (Yammarino, 1994). All levels of managers can be transformational leaders, even middle managers. Both male and female leaders can be transformational leaders, since transformational leadership is not confined to a particular gender. In the next section I will discuss the coupling of the capability approach and transformational leadership theory and why both of these are important for a study on women middle managers.
75 3.6 Coupling of the Capability Approach and Transformational Leadership
Theory in this Study
In order to determine how women HoDs develop as capable managers and leaders and how they function and practise as middle managers and leaders of their departments, in this study I link the capability approach with ideas about transformational
leadership. I propose that the linking of the two theories is important as neither theory on its own is sufficient to understand how women heads of department develop their management capabilities to function as transformational middle managers in a changing educational context. Both theories are important for this study because the capability approach looks back at the personal growth and development of capabilities in people that allow them to function in ways that they have reason to value, and the transformational leadership theory looks at the professional practice. Both these theories support and complement each other. I assume that the development of capabilities in childhood will lead to management skills and attributes. Therefore, preparing the ground and developing the capabilities is a precursor to transformational leadership. The matrix is theoretical and may show an ideal assumption of how the development of foundational capabilities may lead to transformational leadership. The application of the matrix will be used to understand and explain the data of the women middle managers and whether the development of the capabilities do indeed lead to transformational leadership behaviours. Although in different contexts, they both speak of transforming and developing individuals. In Table 3.1 following I present the complementary ideas in a matrix of key scholars who have written about the
capability approach and transformational leadership and show the alignment in their ideas.
76 TABLE 3.1 Matrix of the Alignment of the Sets of Ideas in the Capability
Approach and Transformational Leadership Theory
Capability Approach Transformational Theory
Leadership Nussbaum:
Central human functional capabilities
Walker et al.:
Professional capabilities
Bass & Avolio:
Behavioural Components
Leithwood et al.:
Leadership Dimensions Categories for
Alignment
Management Capabilities Transformational Functioning
Leadership Developing
Knowledge and Skills in the Department
Senses,
imagination and thought
Knowledge, imagination and practical skill
Intellectual stimulation
Intellectual stimulation
Setting Departmental Directions
Informed vision Inspirational motivation
Idealised influence
Building school vision
Establishing goals
High performance expectation Developing
People in the Department
Affiliation
Emotion
Affiliation
Emotion
Integrity
Individual consideration
Individualised support
Modelling Redesigning the
Department
Practical reason Social and collective struggles
Assurance and confidence
Resilience
Structuring to foster participation
Creating
productive school culture
The main pillars of the matrix are four of Nussbaum‟s (2000a) capabilities taken from her list of ten human capabilities. These selected capabilities are used because they relate strongly to the function and practice of management. Against these I align eight professional capabilities from the list of professional capabilities created by Walker et al. (2010, p. 7). I refer to these sets of capabilities as “management capabilities”.
Against these management capabilities I then align a set of “transformational leadership functionings” taken from Bass and Avolio‟s (1994) behavioural
components, and the leadership dimensions specified by Leithwood et al. (1999). I link the set of leadership functions to a set of capabilities based on their affinity or being complementary. For a particular capability the middle manager may behave in ways that correspond to the behavioural components or attributes. In the vertical alignment when a particular capability such as Nussbaum‟s capability of senses, imagination and thought aligns with the professional capabilities of knowledge, imagination and practical skills (Walker et al., 2010), then the middle manager may behave in a particular way, such as being able to intellectually challenge colleagues in
77 her department according to the behavioural component of intellectual stimulation (Bass & Avolio, 1994) as well as the leadership dimension of intellectual stimulation (Leithwood et al., 1999).
In the horizontal alignments I categorise the alignments using leadership attributes to explain the alignment of the management capabilities and the transformational leadership functioning: 1) developing knowledge and skills in the department; 2) setting departmental directions; 3) developing people in the department; and 4) redesigning the department. The categories of setting departmental directions, developing people in the department, and redesigning the department are similar to those used by Leithwood et al. (1999) in their study of principals as transformational leaders in schools. The categories used by Leithwood et al. (1999) focused on the principal and the effect the principal has on the whole school. I have adapted these categories to suit my study of women HoDs and how they develop capabilities that may enable them to function as transformational leaders within their departments.
In the first horizontal alignment I use the category of developing knowledge and skills to align the management capabilities of senses, imagination and thought (Nussbaum, 2000a) and knowledge, imagination and practical skills (Walker et al., 2010) to the transformational leadership functioning of intellectual stimulation (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Leithwood et al., 1999). I propose that these two management capabilities are necessary in order for the women middle managers to intellectually stimulate and motivate the members in their department. Therefore, if the woman middle manager has not developed the management capability of knowledge, imagination and practical skills, she may not be able to stimulate her departmental members intellectually. If the woman middle manager herself is unable to challenge herself to try new practices in her teaching, then she may be unable to challenge and convince the members in her department to be innovative and attempt new practices as teachers.
The second horizontal alignment is categorised as setting departmental directions.
This aligns the management capability of informed vision with the transformational leadership function of inspirational motivation, idealised influence (Bass & Avolio, 1994), building school vision, establishing goals and high performance expectation (Leithwood et al., 1999). Through the setting of directions in the department, the teacher‟s commitment is identified as an important aspect of a school‟s capacity to
78 change. By developing the capability of informed vision the woman middle manager may be able to imagine alternative futures and improved departmental arrangements.
The capability of informed vision may allow the woman middle manager to build a vision for the department that can be pursued over a few years and also to develop consensus on goals for the department that can be achieved in the short term. The capability of informed vision may enable the woman middle manager to expect a high level of performance from the members in her department, as she may be able to inspire and motivate the teachers to see the challenging nature of the goals being pursued in the department. She may be able to act as a role model for the teachers as she is admired, respected and trusted, and may therefore be able to provide the teachers with an overall sense of purpose for the department.
The third horizontal alignment involves developing people in the department. This category aligns the capabilities of affiliation, emotion (Nussbaum, 2000a; Walker et al., 2010) and integrity (Walker, 2010) with the transformational leadership function of individual considerations and support (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Leithwood et al., 1999) and modelling (Leithwood, 1999). Since an organisation is made up of people, the development of people is integral because everything that is associated with an organisation, such as the way in which it is structured and its norms and values, must be “interpreted through the emotions, beliefs, values and behaviours of the people”
(Leithwood, 1999, p. 72). Therefore, developing people in the department focuses on the development of both the teachers and the learners in the department, and how their
“dispositions and motivations” can be developed, as these are needed to create a set of shared directions for the department (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 71). The capability of affiliation involves people interacting with each other as well as forming of
relationships. The capability of emotion involves being able to treat others with care, respect and compassion. These are essential capabilities that need to be acquired by a leader in order for the leader to be able to support the individual needs of department members. Being a leader who possesses the capability of integrity will facilitate ethical and responsible work practices. Having developed the capabilities of affiliation, emotion and integrity may enable the woman middle manager to set an example for the members of the department to follow and to model. For example, if the woman middle manager has a strong sense of commitment to her work, and aspires to maintaining high performance standards in her department through her own
79 teaching practice, then the teachers in her department will be able to replicate her work commitment.
The fourth horizontal alignment involves redesigning the department. In this alignment the capabilities of practical reasoning (Nussbaum, 2000a), social and collective struggles, assurance, confidence and resilience (Walker et al., 2010) are aligned with the transformational leadership function of structuring to foster participation and creating a positive school culture (Leithwood et al., 1999). The culture of a school includes aspects such as the “norms, beliefs, values and
assumptions” that are shared by all members of the school (Leithwood et al., 1999, p.
83). The transformational leader who practises culture-building within the school is able to develop school norms, beliefs, values and assumptions that are “student- centred and support continuing professional growth by teachers” (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 83). These behaviours of the transformational leader are collaborative and the teachers‟ motivation to change is enhanced because the transformational leader is able to influence the beliefs of the teachers about the social support they have available to them (Leithwood et al., 1999).
The second function within the alignment of redesigning the department is that of shared decision-making structures. The transformational leader provides opportunities for the members to participate in decision making on issues that affect them. This contributes to the empowering of teachers. The capability of practical reason is the ability to form a conception of what is good, and to engage in the critical reflection about the planning of one‟s life (Nussbaum, 2000a, p. 79). Closely related to the capability of practical reason (Walker et al., 2010) is the professional capability of social and collective struggles that promotes human rights and contributes to the formulation and implementation of policy as well as empowering other people.
Assurance and confidence is a professional capability (Walker et al., 2010) that enables a person to have the confidence to act for change and to contribute to policy formulation and implementation. The capability of assurance and confidence enables a person to express and assert their own professional priorities. The capability of
resilience enables the professional person to persevere and remain committed to the profession in difficult circumstances. The four capabilities of practical reason, social and collective struggles, assurance and confidence and resilience complement the transformational leadership function of structuring to foster participation and the